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i4 




THE AARON BURR CONSPIRACY IN THE OHIO 

VALLEY. 


MISS LESLIE HENSHAW, CINCINNATI. 


-What the movement known as the Burr Conspiracy really 
was, will probably never be accurately known. It might have 
been one of three things ; first, a filibustering expedition directed 
against Spain; second, a plan to revolutionize the West and 
join this section with Louisiana to form a new republic; third, a 
scheme to join the Western States and Louisiana with Spanish 
America to form an empire. To Burr’s contemporaries whose 
attitude was influenced and intensified by the press of the day, 
it was a ''Napoleonic” scheme to separate the Western States 
from the East, join them with Louisiana and Spanish America 
to form an empire with Burr as the Emperor and Wiflcinson as 
second in command. Before this time, individuals and groups 
of individuals had turned with longing eyes towards Mexico 
but this affair marks the close of the period of wavering and by 
bringing patriotism to a head, solidified the attitude of the 
West in favor of centralization, so that from then on, we have 
the United States of America with no danger of any defection 
on the part of the West, a gradual decline of the old sectTonafern 
with the new sectionalism from the standpoint of the North 
and South taking its place. The Ohio \"alley was the leading 
section in the West at this time, therefore the "Burr Conspiracy” 
may be treated from that standpoint alone. 

After the Hamilton-Bnrr duel and during the completion of 
Burr’s term as Vice-President in Washington, a great intimacy 
had developed between Burr and General James Wilkinson 
and variety was added to their boarding house existence by dis- 
cussing routes in the far Southwest and examining and drawing 
ma])s of that district. Before Burr’s departure for the West, 
he had been concerned with Wilkinson, John Smith of Ohio, 
John Brown and General John Adair of Kentucky in an effort 

( 121 ) 


122 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

to procure a charter for cutting a canal at the Falls on the 
Indiana side of the Ohio river, on which charter a bank was 
engrafted. He had also discussed with Matthew Lyon, a rep- 
resentative from Kentucky, the possibility of regaining his 
political fortunes by being returned to Congress from a Western 
state in the ensuing election. These facts had an important 
bearing on the situation that later developed in the West, 
although the canal project and the election idea dropped out 
almost immediately, the discussion concerning the Southwest 
.materializing into what is known as the '‘Burr Conspiracy.’’ 

In the course of the planning and developing of the "Con- 
spiracy,” Aaron Burr made two trips through the western coun- 
try, the first in the spring of 1805, the second in the fall of 
1806. Before he left for the West, he wrote to his daughter to 
address him until further orders, Cincinnati, Ohio, care of John 
Smith, indicating an intimacy with him which might have been 
either real or assumed. April twenty-ninth, 1805, he arrived 
at Pittsburgh; from there, he wrote to his daughter to address 
him Frankfort, Kentucky, care of John Brown who had been 
concerned in the Spanish Conspiracy earlier. He continued 
down the river stopping at Marietta and Blennerhassett Island 
where he conversed with Mrs. Blennerhassett. « Afterwards he 
wrote Mr. Blennerhassett regretting his absence and alluding 
to his talents as deserving a higher sphere than that in which 
they were employed. In this he courted disaster for he paved 
the way for putting his plans or the hint of them, in the hands 
of an egotistical "bungler.” He arrived at Cincinnati, May 
eleventh, staying with Senator John Smith, whose occupation in 
this city was that of a merchant and army contractor. Here 
he met Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, either to discuss the 
canal plan or as a fellow conspirator in the Spanish project. 
The Western Spy of May fifteenth, gives the following notice 
of his arrival: "On Friday last, Aaron Burr, esquire, late 

Vice-President of the United States, arrived in this town where 
he remained two or three days and then descended the Ohio on 
his way to New Orleans. Tt is reported,’ says the Washington 
Federalist, 'that Colonel Burr is to be appointed Governor of 
Louisiana in the room of W. C. C. Claiborne.’ ” This last sen- 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy m the Ohio Valley. 123 



\ 

tence adds a fourth possible reason for Burr's western journey 
aside from the canal project, the probabilities of a Congressional ' 
election from a western state and the “Conspiracy" itself. The 
following week, the same paper comments : “We have for some 

time understood that a company has been formed in the Eastern 
States for the purpose of opening a Canal around the Falls of the 
Ohio and erecting a Waterworks at that place. Colonel Burr it 
has been said, was concerned in that Company and we presume 
his visit to this country is principally confined to that object." 
Evidently the western public knew little of Burr’s real purpose 
but was interested enough in his presence in their midst to offer 
conjectures as to the cause of his being there. 

B.urr then descended the Ohio as far as Louisville and 
from there went overland to Frankfort, staying at the home of 
John Brown; from there he went to Lexington, arriving May 22p 
and to Nashville spending the time from May twenty-ninth to 
June third with Andrew Jackson. It was announced from 
Kentucky that he was not to be governor of Louisiana and was 
not interested in a canal at the Falls but was traveling for 
amusement and information.- Thus a new reason for his pres- 
ence in the West is added to the galaxy already offered. 

It was apparently planned that he was to meet Wilkinson, 
for the general followed Burr down the Ohio, stopping at 
Cincinnati May twenty-second, leaving the twenty-third.^ He 
continued on to Louisville and from there wrote John Adair, 
May twenty-eighth, 1805 : “I was to have introduced my friend 

Burr to you but in this I failed by accident. He understands 
your merits and reckons on you. Prepare to meet me and I 
will tell you all. We must have a peek into the unknown world 
beyond us."^ This letter of introduction was written to a man 
who had already been concerned with Wilkinson and Burr in the 
canal charter, before Burr had journeyed to the West. 

Burr descended the Cumberland River to the Ohio and met 
Wilkinson at Fort Massac leaving there the tenth of June, 
bearing a letter of introduction from Wilkinson to Daniel Clark 
of New Orleans as follows: “This will be delivered to you by 

Colonel Burr whose worth you know well how to estimate 
* * *. To him, I refer you for many things improper to 


i 


124 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

letter and which he will not say to any other. Thus at this 
early date, something existed between the two men which was 
“improper to letter/’ Further significance is added to this sit- 
uation by the fact that Burr carried with this another letter 
of introduction to Casa Calvo, commissioner for Spain in the 
Louisiana boundary question. It is dated Washington the 
eighteenth of March, 1805, and introduces “my eminent friend, 
Colonel Burr, a man of a million qualities” and is signed J. W. 
He also wrote a letter marked confidential at Fort Massac, 
June 9, 1805, asking Casa Calvo to “serve this gentleman” 
(Burr) ; “He is my friend * * *. Your great family in- 
fluence will promote the views of Colonel Burr and the great 
interest of your country will be served in following his advice 
* * *. Do as I advise you and you will soon send to the devil 

that boastful idiot W. C. C. Claiborne.” A postscript is added to 
the following efifect: “Burn this and tell my son and Armesto® 

that I am always the same, your unalterable friend.”' Wilkinson 
then went on to St. Louis, arriving July first, ^ where Burr 
met him later after his return from the South. Burr, continuing 
southward, stopped at Natchez, June seventeenth, where he 
was entertained by Governor Williams of Mississippi territory. 
He arrived in New Orleans the twenty-first of June, remaining 
there until July tenth. Here he was entertained l^y Governor 
Claiborne and Daniel Clark. He then went back to Natchez 
and on to Nashville, spending the week from August sixth to 
August thirteenth with Andrew Jackson. He spent August 
twentieth to thirty-first at Frankfort with John Brown and at 
Lexington ; he arrwed at Louisville September second, then 
went to St. Louis meeting Wilkinson there September twelfth. 
On his way east, he stopped at Adncennes, September twenty- 
third, then at Cincinnati arriving October first, then to Chillicothe 
and Marietta from the seventh to the tenth, arriving at Pittsburgh 
the twentieth. 

December thirty-first, 1805, Blennerhassett wrote to Burr: 
“I shall be honored in being associated with you in any contem- 
plated enterprise you would permit me to participate in to 
which Burr answered from Washington, April fifteenth, t8o6: 
“Independent of considerations personal to myself, I learn with 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley, 125 

utmost pleasure that you are to be restored to the social and 
active world. Thus by flattery were Blennerhassett’s services 
gained, allowing him to feel that the Burr plan had the sanction 
of the government and needed only a declaration of war with 
Spain to put it in motion. 

In preparation for Burr’s second journey to the West, a 
number of letters were written to General Wilkinson. General 
Dayton in the cipher, used by Burr and Wilkinson in the past, 
wrote July twenty-fourth, 1806: 'Tt is now ascertained that you 

are to be displaced in the next session. Jefferson will aff'ect to 
yield reluctantly but yield he will ; prepare yourself therefore 
for it, you know the rest. You are not a man to despair or 
even despond, especially when such projects ofifer in another 
quarter. Are you ready ? Are your numerous associates ready ? 
Wealth and Glory ! Louisiana and Mexico ! I shall have time 
to receive a letter from you before I set out for Ohio. Address 
to me here and another to me in Cincinnati. Receive and treat 
my nephew affectionately as you would receive your friend. — 
Dayton.”^^ This was carried by his nephew, Peter Ogden of 
New Jersey to Wilkinson. July twenty-ninth, 1806, Burr wrote 
a letter of introduction to Wilkinson for Samuel Swartwout of 
New York who was to carry it and also the famous cipher letter 
which, according to Wilkinson’s testimony later, contained his 
plans for the expedition down the Ohio and Mississippi, a 
duplicate of which was sent in Dr. Erick Bollman’s care by the 
sea route to New Orleans. 

On his second journey to the West, Burr arrived at Pitts- 
burgh, August twenty-second, 1806. The Pittsburgh Coinnion- 
zcealth of August twenty-seventh says that he was traveling 
incognito and was perfectly taciturn and that during his stay 
many conjectures were afloat. He stopped at the home of 
Colonel George Morgan near Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. Mor- 
gan was a former Revolutionary soldier and had drawn up a 
contract October third 1788, with Gardoqui, the Spanish rep- 
resentative in the United States, for a grant of land at New 
Madrid on the Mississippi river opposite the mouth of the 
Ohio with privileges of free trade down the river. This had 
not pleased Wilkinson who had just obtained a renewal of his 


126 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

license for navigation of the ^Mississippi from Miro, the Spanish 
commander at New Orleans and Morgan’s charter had been 
revokedd^ 

Burr evidently expected Morgan on account of his earlier 
career, to listen to his plans with eagerness but Morgan had 
developed in the meantime an ardent and unexpected patriotism. 
According to his testimony, Burr, while alone with the Colonel, 
asked him if he knew of a Spaniard at Vincennes by the name of 
Vigo, by way of introducing a hint of his scheme and sounding 
his listener. Morgan replied that he had reason to believe that 
this Vigo was deeply involved in the Conspiracy of 1788 and 
called it a nefarious scheme aiming at a division of the States. 
He considered Burr’s mention of the Spaniard of such impor- 
tance to the welfare of the country that he wrote a letter to 
Jefferson informing him of the conversation.^^ 

Burr descended the river as far as Blennerhassett Island. 
Immediately following this, there appeared in the Ohio Gaaette 
of Marietta a series of articles signed '‘The Querist,” discussing 
the probability of a separation of the Western States from the 
East and the desirability of such a separation. These articles 
were attributed to Blennerhassett, following out the suggestion 
of Burr. Blennerhassett, according to testimony presented in 
the B/urr trial, showed the first and second numbers of "The 
Querist” before tiieir publication to Alexander Henderson of 
Wood County, of which county Blennerhassett Island was a 
part, and told him in confidence that Burr planned a separation 
of the Union, that New Orleans was to be seized and the 
Western country revolutionized.^^ 

Burr proceeded onward to Cincinnati, arriving September 
fourth, 1806, and again staying at the home of John Smith. 
As early as September eighteenth of the previous year The West- 
ern Spy had published a series of queries from The Nezv York 
Herald, insinuating that it would not be long before the West 
would be revolutionized, the government separated and Mexico 
reduced with the aid of Great Britain, under the leadership of 
Burr. On October twenty-first 1806, The Spy begins a series 
of articles by "Regulus” in answer to "The Querist.” John 
Smith was very active in discussing the "Querist” articles and 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley. 127 

boasted that he knew more of Burr’s plans than any man in 
Ohio save oned^ That one thus referred to, might have been 
Dudley Woodbridge of Marietta, business partner of Blenner- 
hassett with whom Burr had various commercial dealings. 

From Cincinnati, Burr went to Lexington, arriving Sep- 
tember eleventh^' and then to Nashville arriving September 
twenty-seventh. On the fourth of October, Jackson issued a 
fJ)roclamation to the militia of Tennessee, calling for volunteers 
for an expedition against The Spaniards. From there. Burr 
returned to Lexington, staying at the home of Mr. John Jordan, 
concluding with Colonel Charles Lynch the purchase of the 
Bastrop lands in the Red River country. Here he was met by 
his daughter Theodosia whom Blennerhassett had brought down 
from his island home. From Lexington, Burr wrote to William 
Henry Harrison, October twenty-fourth, 1806, sending a news- 
paper containing the Jackson proclamation, suggesting similar 
action on his part : ‘‘All reflecting men consider a war with 

Spain inevitable ; in such an event I think you would not be at 
ease as an idle spectator. If it should be my lot to be employed 
where there is reason to expect, it would be my highest grati- 
fication to be associated with you.”^® 

During October and November, “fellow conspirators’’ were 
making preparations for the expedition down the river; Colonel 
Barker was building boats in the Muskingum under contract 
with Dudley Woodbridge; Comfort Tyler in Pittsburgh was col- 
lecting recruits and provisions; Davis Floyd at Jeffersonville was 
gathering recruits to settle the Washita lands on the banks of 
the Red River. At this point, the tide begins to turn against 
Burr and from now on, he is a man marked for failure. A 
movement in Kentucky to defeat the project was rapidly gaining 
ground. The Western World, a “yellow journal” of Frankfort, 
printed by Joseph Street, had been publishing a series of muck 
raking articles on “Conspiracy,” written by Humphrey Marshall, 
w’hich had been copied by other Western newspapers and had 
agitated that part of the country against Burr. Joseph Hamil- 
ton Daviess, an attorney at Frankfort, rose in the Federal 
Court of Kentucky, November fifth and made affidavit that he 
had information that Aaron Burr had set on foot and was 


128 Ohio Arch, a)id Hisi. Society Publications. 

preparing for a military enterprise to descend the Ohio and 
Mississippi to make war on the subjects of the King of Spain and 
that his agents had purchased large stores of provisions. He 
asked the court to compel the personal appearance of Burr. 
He stated that he recognized the fact that Burr might import 
arms and engage men but these would be no offense against the 
law but it was the design, the intent which constituted his mis- 
demeanor. Judge Harry Innis who had been involved with 
John Brown in the Spanish conspiracy of 1788^^ and had aroused 
the everlasting enmity of Humphrey Marshall, writer of the 
articles, on “Conspiracy” in The Western World, declined to 
give an opinion without time for consideration. November 
eighth, he stated that he had found no legal evidence to authorize 
the arrest of Burr. He said that he did not doubt the truth 
of the affidavit and thought the facts might even be true but it 
was not legal evidence. Daviess then moved for a warrant to 
summon the grand jury before whom he would prefer an 
indictment against Colonel Burr which was granted. At this 
point, Burr entered, accompanied by his counsel, Henry Clay, 
and stated that he had made it his business to present himself 
for investigation. November twelfth after the jury had been 
discharged, Burr again addressed the court, requesting to know 
the cause of the discharge of the grand jury and Daviess was 
compelled to state that it was because of the absence of his 
chief witness, Davis Floyd, who was in attendance as a member 
of the Legislature of Indiana territory. Burr rose again and 
made it understood that he had used every exertion in his 
power to compel the attendance of witnesses. Burr was the 
“man of the hour” on account of his open and frank conduct 
in this trial but although acquitted for lack of evidence, his 
project suffered nevertheless from the mere fact that too much 
attention was drawn to it. At this time. Burr wrote to Blen- 
nerhassett, “It is probable that villains enough may be found 
to encounter all perjuries which may gratify malice * * * 

You perceive that this will embarrass me in my project of the 
Washita settlement.”-^ 

The fact that Henry Clay was attorney for the defense of 
Burr is certainly of some interest at this point. The agitation 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley, 129 

worked up by The Western World had cast suspicion on some 
of the most prominent men of Kentucky as concerned in the 
conspiracy to annex Kentucky to Spain. Many of the men 
on whom the shadow fell were Clay's personal friends and when 
an indictment for the same offense was made against Colonel 
Burr, Clay, considering Burr a “persecuted patriot” and realizing 
the beneht of his reputation as a young lawyer in having so dis- 
tinguished a client as the former Vice-President of the United 
States, was ready to defend him in court. He was assured by 
Burr that his plans meant no harm to the United States. That 
his opinion changed later is shown by the fact that in a court 
room in New York City in 1815, he publicly refused to shake 
hands with his former client.-- 

Opposition to Burr was developing from another quarter. 
John Graham, Secretary of Orleans Territory, was requested 
by Madison to pass through the western country on his way to 
New Orleans to follow Burr on account of information that a 
project was on foot to sever the Union and invade the terri- 
tories of. Spain. This move was the direct result of dark hints 
from Wilkinson to Jefferson, after Swartwout’s arrival at Wil- 
kinson's military camp at Nachitoches on the Texas frontier 
October eighth, and the delivery of the letter of introduction 
written by Burr at Philadelphia and the sealed packet containing 
the cipher letter of July twenty-ninth. Graham, in pursuit of 
Burr, stopped at IMarietta where Blennerhassett called on him 
and told him of the Bastrop lands purchase; he contended that 
the object of the Burr enterprise was legal and that the gov- 
ernment had no right to interfere. Graham considering Blen- 
nerhassett a deluded man, told him that he was the agent of the 
government to look into the enterprise and take steps to repress 
it if necessary and that he believed that Burr intended to 
attack the territory of the United States and that of Spain. 

While Blennerhassett was in Lexington, Alexander Hender- 
son, a Federal leader in Wood County where Blennerhassett was 
prominent as a large property holder and a Democrat, organized 
opposition and called a mass meeting of citizens where reso- 
lutions were passed October sixth condemning the ''hostile" 
movements. Mrs. Blennerhassett alarmed by this situation, sent 


Vol. XXIV — 9. 


130 


Ohio Arch, and Hist. Sorict\ Publications. 


Peter Taylor her gardener, in search of her husband. Taylor 
went to Smith’s store in Cincinnati and not finding Blenner- 
hassett there, was sent to Lexington with a letter from Smith 
to Burr. This was dated October twenty-third 1806, and states 
that “we have in this quarter various reports prejudicial to your 
character. It is believed by many that your design is to dis- 
member the Union ; although I do not believe you have any such 
design, yet I must confess from the mystery and rapidity of 
your movements that I have fears, let your object be what it may, 
that the tranquillity of the country will be interrupted unless it be 
candidly disclosed, which I solicit, and to which I presume you 
will have no objection. To this Burr replied: “If there 

exists any design to separate the Western from the Eastern 
States, I am totally ignorant of it. I never harbored nor ex- 
pressed any such intention to any one, nor did any person ever 
intimate such design to me. Indeed, I have no conception of 
any mode in which such a measure could be promoted, except 
by operating on the minds of the people and demonstrating it to 
be to their interest. I have never written or published a line on 
this subject nor ever expressed any other sentiments than those 
you have heard from me in public companies at Washington and 
elsewhere and in which I think you concurred. I have no 
political views whatever, — those which I entertained some 
months ago have been abandoned. Having bought of Colonel 
L}mch 400,000 acres of land on the Washita, I propose to send 
thither this fall a number of settlers * *. Mr. J. Breck- 

enridge, Adair and Fowler have separately told me that it was the 
strong desire of the administration that American settlers should 
go to that quarter and that I could not do a thing more grateful to 
the government. I have some other views which are personal 
merely and which I shall have no objection to state to your per- 
sonally but which I do not deem it necessary to publish. If these 
projects could any way affect the interests of the United States, 
it would be beneficially. Yet I acknowledge that no public con- 
siderations have led me to this speculation but merely the interest 
and comfort of myself and friends. P. S. It may be unneces- 
sary to caution but I never write for publication.”^"’ This letter 
so indefinite in expression would arouse suspicion from that 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley, 131 

fact alone and contains in it the essence of Burr's method 
'‘operating on the minds of the people and demonstrating it to 
be to their interest." 

In November, Smith went on a supposed business trip to 
Cynthiana, Lexington and Frankfort where he met Burr while 
he was on trial but left the next morning after being told he 
might be summoned as a witness. November twenty-first, Burr 
was in Cincinnati again-® but this time he did not stay with 
Smith but stopped at a tavern. November twenty-seventh, he 
wrote Harrison from Louisville: "I have no wish or design to 

attempt a separation of the Union, I have no connection with 
any foreign power or government ; I never mediated the intro- 
duction of any foreign power or influence into the United States, 
or any part of its territories-^ but on the contrary, I should repel 
with indignation any proposition or measure having that tend- 
ency ; in fine, I have no project or views hostile to the interests or 
tranquillity or union of the United States or prejudicial to its 
government. * * * is true that I am engaged in ex- 
tensive speculations and that with me are associated some of 
your intimate and dearest friends. The objects are such as 
every man of honor and every good citizen must approve. 
They have been communicated to several of the principal officers 
of the government, particularly to one high in the confidence of 
the administration. Indeed, from the nature of them, it cannot 
be otherwise, and I have no doubt of having received your active 
support, if a personal communication with you could be had. 
Accident and indispensable occupation have prevented me from 
writing you for that purpose."-® ^ 

Early in December, the expedition itself was started. Com- 
fort Tyler's party left Beaver, Pennsylvania, December first, 
passing Marietta December ninth and continued down the river 
to Blennerhassett Island. November twenty-sixth, Henry Dear- 
born, Secretary of War, had written to Edward Tiffin, the 
Governor of Ohio, informing him of the hostile plan and asking 
him to send a detachment of Ohio militia to Marietta to seize 
the boats that the Burr party expected to use.-^ Tiffin acting on 
this advice and with the support of the Ohio Legislature, issued 
an order to arrest the flotilla on the Muskingum, and accordingly 


i 


132 Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications. 

General Buell seized the boats December ninth. Blennerhassett, 
alarmed by this situation, joined the Tyler party and left the 
island in the middle of the night of December tenth. The same 
day Tiffin wrote to Major General Gano of Cincinnati, enclosing 
the President’s proclamation of November twenty-seventh on the 
Burr “treason” and appointed Judge Matthew Nimmo, General 
James Findlay and Gano as a commission to organize the militia 
of that district, guard the river and examine all boats passing 
down.^^ This reached Cincinnati December thirteenth, and as 
a result the militia were ordered out. Gano wrote to Tiffin 
December fifteenth, informing him of a lack of provisions and 
ammunitions but that despite this, a detachment had been sent 
Up the river to Columbia to stop and examine all boats. This 
detachment was ordered by Gano to pursue any boats which 
might slip by and not to shed blood unless fired upon.^^ Similar 
activity was evinced by the Kentucky militia but despite all pre- 
cautions of the Cincinnati and Newport guards, the expedition 
passed in the night of December fourteenth without being no- 
ticed. Only one thousand dollars had been appropriated by 
the state for the equipment of the militia with provisions and 
arms, so Gano went to John Smith, showed him the President’s 
Proclamation and told him of the lack of funds. Smith prom- 
ised to pay one half of the expenses, if Gano, Findlay and 
Nimmo would pay the other half. Later, when arms could not 
be secured, Smith offered ten thousand dollars to insure their 
delivery. This attitude developed immediately upon being 
shown the Jefferson Proclamation. At Louisville, the militia 
there detained Blennerhassett and party but were forced to 
let them go because nothing of suspicious character was found 
aboard the boats. December sixteenth the Blennerhassett-Tyler 
party was joined by the Floyd party at Jeffersonville and pro- 
ceeded onward. Burr coming down the Cumberland from Nash- 
ville met themi at the mouth of that river late in December. 
Word was sent ahead to Fort Massac announcing their coming. 
Daniel Bissell, commanding the fort, sent Sergeant Jacob Dun- 
baugh up to call on Burn, and render assistance if necessary. 
Bissell reported January fifth itSoy, to General Jackson who had 
received orders from the Secretary of War too late, to stop 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley. 133 

the expedition at Fort Massac, that there were about ten boats 
and sixty men and nothing on board that would even suffer a 
conjecture that they were more than men bound to market.^® 
Dunbaugh obtained leave of absence with Bissell’s permission and 
one mile below Fort Massac joined the Burr party. January 
first, they stopped at New Madrid and there men were sent for- 
ward to recruit more men at twelve dollars and a half a month 
and one hundred acres of land to go to the Washita country.^'’ 
Whatever had been the original plan for the expedition, too 
much public notice had forced it to resolve itself into a small 
party of land settlers bound for new Territory. January fourth, 
Burr arrived at Chickasaw Bluffs (now Memphis). 

As has been said before, Swartwout arrived at Nachitoches 
October eighth with the letter of Burr's to Wilkinson and the 
sealed packet, the contents of which he claims to have been 
ignorant of. Acording to Swartwout, when he left Philadelphia 
he carried a letter which he himself had put into cipher and 
copied at Burr's request and at Pittsburgh had received a sealed 
paper from Peter Ogden with a message from the Colonel to 
destroy the cipher letter and deliver the sealed paper in lieu of 
it.^^ The interpretation of the cipher letter of July twenty- 
ninth which Wilkinson claims was in the sealed packet delivered 
by Swartwout, was not sent to Jefferson by the general until 
December sixth. This interpretation forms a part of an affidavit 
charging Swartwout and Ogden with treason and was not re- 
•ceived by Jefferson until January twenty-third.^^ Following is 
the interpretation in part: ‘T, Aaron Barr, have obtained funds 

and have actually commenced the enterprise. Detachments from 
different points, and under different pretences, will rendezvous on 
the Ohio ist November; everything internal and external favors 
views; protection from England is secured; T. is going to 
Jamaica to arrange with the admiral on that station; it will meet 
in Mississippi — England — navy of United States are ready to 
join, and final orders are given to my friends and followers; it 
will be a host of choice spirits; Wilkinson shall be second to Burr 
only ; Wilkinson shall dictate rank and promotion of his officers ; 
Burr will proceed westward ist August, never to return; with 
him go his daughter ; the husband will follow in October with a 


134 Ohio Arch, mid Hist. Socictv Publications. 

corps of worthies * * *, Burr’s plan of operation is to move 

down rapidly from the falls on 15th November with first five 
hundred or one thousand men in light boats now constructing for 
that purpose, to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th of 
December, there to meet Wilkinson ; there to determine whether 
it will be expedient, in the first instance, to seize on or pass 
by Baton Rouge. 

To return to the Burr party, January fourth and fifth, 
the flotilla was at Chickasaw Bluffs. Jacob Jackson in command 
there was engaged to enter the expedition with the under- 
standing that it was a secret preparation of the government 
in the event of war with Spain and he was given one hundred 
and fifty dollars in bank notes and a draft for five hundred 
dollars on John Smith, to raise a company of men to join them.^^ 
In the meantime, the militia of Mississippi Territory had been 
sent by Cowles Meade, the Acting Governor, to the mouth 
of Cole’s Creek to intercept the expedition. Burr, reaching the 
Territory January tenth went ahead to Bayou Pierre, where it 
is claimed he received news of the President’s Proclamation 
and arranged with Poindexter and Shields of the Governor’s 
staff to meet the Governor. He agreed to go to Washington, 
the capital of Mississippi Territory, for trial where he was 
acquitted because the acts of which he was accused were com- 
mitted outside the Territory. The boats were searched for arms 
and although none were found, the Blennerhassett Journal states 
that a party was sent out the night before to obviate effectually 
the success of the design. Cowles Meade wrote to Dearborn, 
at this time, informing him of a letter from Burr, avowing the 
innocence of his views and the fallacy of certain rumors against 
his patriotism; his object was agriculture, his boats the vehicles 
of emigration.^^ After the trial Burr fled but was captured 
as a fugitive from justice by Lieutenant Gaines of Fort Stoddert 
and carried to Richmond, Virginia for trial. All the chief men 
concerned with Burr, Adair, Floyd, Tyler, Blennerhassett, Day- 
ton and Smith were arrested in New Orleans and sent to 
Richmond also. 

Not only did Graham follow the Burr party in behalf of 
the L^nited States government but also a Spaniard, Jose Vidal, 
followed on the heels of the expedition for Spain. He left 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio Valley. 135 

Cadiz August first, 1806 and arrived in Philadelphia in October, 
“just at the time Colonel Burr and his associates were con- 
juring up the plan on the Kingdom of Mexico/’'^^ He was sent 
by Casa Yrujo, Spanish minister to the United States, to 
follow Burr and left Pittsburgh the first day of December; 
thirty-six days later he arrived at Natchez, where he received 
orders to go to the frontier and into the “interior provinces,'' 
and report on conditions there and warn them of Burr's inten- 
tions and plans. According to this Vidal, a friend of Wilkinson, 
a commander of the Spanish garrison on the United States 
frontier before this time and later the vice-consul at New 
Orleans, he followed Burr day and night and never was out 
of sight of the expedition. Pie traveled in his own boat and 
took his children with him to avoid suspicion. In his report to 
Yrujo, he expresses the opinion that “the expedition referred to, 
resolves itself into nothing.^^ 

Burr’s first journey through the West shows several inter- 
esting phases. He had planned to visit Smith at Cincinnati and 
Brown at Frankfort before he left the East and expected to 
meet Wilkinson with whom he had already had dealings “im- 
proper to letter". He satisfied the curiosity of the people by 
saying that he was traveling for information and amusement, 
when he found that there was interest enough in his very pres- 
ence in the country to ^ouse conjectures as to the cause of his 
being there. He allowed himself to be publicly entertained by 
such prominent men as the governors of Orleans and Mississippi 
Territory and General Andrew Jackson, so as to add to his 
prestige in the Western Country. Suspicion was already afloat 
before he arrived in the West on his second journey and after 
feeling the pulse of the people by “The Querist" articles and 
finding that there was not so much enthusiasm as there might 
be for a separation of the West from the East, he purchased 
the Bastrop lands so as to be able to use the settlement of them 
as his purpose and await an opportunity there to carry out his 
original intention. His chances were spoiled by a combination 
of the “Western World" agitation and the activity of Graham 
in behalf of the administration and the less important move on 
the part of Henderson of Wood County to set the people against 
him. But the country was worked up to a fever pitch by it, the 


136 


Ohio Arch, and Hist. Societx Puhiicattor.s 

' ^ 


militia was called out and Burr's ‘‘army" was to be set upon 
and defeated. That Burr was a great student of human nature 
is shown by the fact that he succeeded in interesting so many 
prominent men in the scheme ; he ajyyays “knew his man'’ ; he 
gained Harrison's, Jackson's and even the less important Jacob 
Jackson's approval by appealing to their patriotism, for to them 
his scheme was a military one sanctioned by the government 
for an expedition against the Spaniards. Blennerhassett he 
gained by flattery, for he was to increase his social prestige by 
association with so many prominent men in an enterprise that 
would bring him back into the active world. He probably ap- 
pealed to Smith’s pocketbook for this man was a large land- 
holder in Spanish territory. He made a psychological mistake 
by trying to feel his way with Colonel iMorgan but realized it 
before he disclosed anything. He made no direct statements but 
allowed the other men to jump at conclusions, and invariably 
insinuated that he was backed by prominent men. When brought 
to trial, he always appeared willing and anxious for investigation 
but it is certainly a subject for comment that all the men con- 
cerned with him were either traveling with him on the actual 
expedition <lown the IMississippi or were moving toward New 
Orleans as separate individuals. 

NOTES. 

1. Kentucky Gazette (Lexington), May 28, 1805. 

2. Kentucky Gazette, May 28, 1805. 

3. Western Spy, May 29, 1895. 

4. Clark “Proofs of the Corruption of General James Wilkinson,’' 
'Note 78, Page 158. 

5. Clark’s “Proofs”, Page 119, dated Massac., June 9, 1805. 

6. Secretary to Caso Calva. 

7. Translation from the Archives of the Indies, Seville, The Audencia 
of Santo Domingo, Louisiana and Florida, 1800-1837, Section I, 
Shelf 10, Legajo 87. (Information supplied by I. J. Cox.) 

8. Western Spy, September 4, 1805. 

9. Safford. “Blennerhassett Papers”, Pages 118 and 119. 

10. Safford “Blennerhassett Papers”, Page 119. 

11‘. American State Papers, Miscellaneous, volume I, Page 559; Clarks 
“Proofs,” note 80, Page 159. 

12. American State Papers, miscellaneous I 502. 


The Aaron Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio J\Tllcy. 1S7 



13. Winsor ‘The Colonies and the Republic West of the Alleghanies, 
1763-1798,” Page 366. 

14. American State Papers, miscellaneous I 503. 

15. American State Papers, miscell. I 525. 

16. Harper’s Speech defending Smith in Congress, April 6, 1808 from 
Benton’s Abridgment of Debates, volume III, Senate Proceedings. 

17. Kentucky Gazette, September 11, 1806. 

18. Clark’s ‘‘Proofs,” Note 1, Pages 16 and 17. 

19. Green, “Spanish Conspiracy.” 

20. Western Spy, November 25, and December 2, 1806, copied from The 
Western World. 

21. Blennerhassett Papers,, 15, 154. 

22 . Prentice, “Life of Henry Clay,” Pages 31. 

23. Testimony of John Graham in the Burr trial — American State 
Papers — miscell. I 528, 529. 

24. Adam’s Speech in Debate on Smith case in the Senate April 8, 1808, 
Benton vol. HI. 

25. From Adam’s Speech in the Senate. 

26. Western Spy, November 25, 1806. 

27. He had been in correspondence with the Spanish and English repre- 
sentatives in the United' States the previous year. 

28. Clark’s Proofs, note I, Page 17. 

29. Gano Papers (a manuscript collection in the possession of the His- 
torical and Philosophical Society of Ohio), volume HI, Page 5. 

30. Gano Papers, HI 5. 

31. Western Spy, January 6, 1807; Gano HI 27. 

32. Gano III 7 ' 

33. Gano HI 11. 

34. Gano HI 27. Deposition of John Gano for Smith Trial in the 
Senate. 

35. American State Papers, miscell. I 474. 

36. American State Papers, miscell. I 508, Testimony of Thomas 
Hartley. 

37. Gano HI 45, Deposition of Samuel Swartwout. 

38. American State Papers, miscell. I 472. 

39. American State Papers, miscell. I 472; also in Clark’s Proofs, Note 
81, Pages 160 and 161. 

40. American State Papers, miscell. I 611. 

41. Third Annual Report of the Director of the Department of 
Archives and History of State of Mississippi 1903-04, Page 52. 

42. Archives of Indies, 87, I, 10, Vidal to Godoy, Prime Minister of 
Spain, Philadelphia, August 8, 1807. 

48. Archives of Indies, 87, I, 10, Vidal to Antonio Samper, Phila- 
delphia, August 8, 1807. 

Archives of Indies, 87^ I, 10, Vidal to Yrujo, Philadelphia, July 
1, 1807. 


44 . 



USKY COUNTY. 


The limits of the following sketch will allow only, in brief 
outline, some of the more important facts and incidents pertain-, 
ing to the governmental relations of that portion of country, 
lying immediately south of Lake Erie which became Sandusky 
County, and also of the greater area known as the Northwest 
Territory holding the same in embryo, while it was passing to 
its organic limits as a separate county., 

A view of the country comprising the county, with its broad, 
fertile fields, productive orchards, and sightly woodlands ; its fair 

capital city, with its great factories and suc- 
cessful merchants ; its thriving villages ; its 
churches and school houses, steam and 
electric railways, telegraphs and telephones, 
automobiles, improved roads, rural mail 
delivery and beautiful homes in city, village 
and country, with its prosperous and happy 
thousands of population, would scarcely 
allow the thought, that but little over a 
century ago all this region was in reality 
a “howling wilderness’’ without the pres- 
ence of a white man; yet such is veritable 
history. And geologists inform us of what is still more 
wonderful : That all this country of which we are writing was 

once the bottom of a sea, believed to have been the Gulf of 
Mexico extending thus far northward ; that it finally emerged 
from the depths of this sea and after it thus appeared above the 
waters many ^^^isands of years ago there came down upon it 
from the noTfli a mighty ice flood or glacier, which completely 
enveloped it to a very great depth. That this great ice flood or 
glacier brought with it hard and soft rocks, which in its tre- 
mendous unmoving course, it crushed and pulverized, between 

( 138 ) 



Basil Meek. 





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library of congress 




